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Monday, 9 September 2013

In Time

In the year 2169 the world has
become a place where time has become currency. Andrew Niccol’s presents us with
an intriguing story of a dystopian future were humanity has been bioengineered
to stop aging at 25, being genetically engineered to be born with a chilling
green countdown. Though they stop aging, their clock begins to start ticking
away and if a person’s clock reaches zero they “time out” and die. Imagine a
world where bus fares shave off minuets off your life or even buying a drink
can take two hours off your life. Countries are divided into time zones based
on the wealth of its population. Where the poor time zoned areas are littered
with bodies that have timed-out, the wealthier zoned areas inhabit their
immortality and enjoy their wealth, only worried that only an accidental death
can kill them.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is
a hard working factory employee that lives in Dayton with his mum Rachel Salas
(Olivia Wilde). Dayton is one of the poorest timed areas so seeing bodies that
have timed out on the streets is a norm for them. One day at a bar Will saves a
drunken and suicidal man Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) who has a time of a
century from bandits that are called “Minutemen”. Hamilton reveals to Will the
truth about the wealth; that there is enough time for everyone to live long
lives. However the citizens of New Greenwich, the richest timed zone, keep the
time for themselves which increases the cost of living for the poor so that
they can live forever. When Will falls asleep Hamilton gives 116 years of his
own time all but 5 minutes. He leaves the sleeping Will and walks to the Dayton
Bridge and willingly times out. When Will wakes up he finds a message “Don’t
Waste My Time”. With his new found wealth Will now travels to the New Greenwich
and embarks on a mission to fight the system and share the wealth with all the
time zones.

“For a few to be immortal, many
must die” is the perfect quote that defines In Time, a film that focuses on Darwinian
capitalism when only the strongest can survive. In Time is a fascinating look
into this new ideology that defines currency with time. That the value of gold
or silver doesn’t even matter but rather someone’s own life can define how long
they can live. Niccol beautifully grasps our existing world and ideology with
In Time worlds and puts it to the extreme. This is a world where the poor are
sentenced to poverty and premature death of being timed out, when the rich
enjoy the luxury of leisure’s and immortality protected by the “Timekeepers”
who enforce the times zones. Just like in 1997 with Gattaca, Andrew exquisitely
creates a world when technology and style from the past are portrayed to be
more advanced than our century. When bandits like the “Minutemen” drive around
in electric powered retro cars stealing time from innocent people and
“Timekeepers” dressed in black with long leather black rain coats, enforce the
law of time and treat the citizens of Dayton as subhuman. A cruel reminder of
how these men resemble the Nazi secret service Gestapo.

Even though the premise to In
Time is a fascinating and an intriguing look in the future, it still none the
less didn’t have as much creative power and drive as Gattaca did. Niccol does
bring up some captivating questions focused on the concept that big companies
and business live and breathe off the labour of the poor. That being born in a
system that when you a poor you will always be poor and never given the chance
to leave. When Will Salas escapes from the Dayton ghetto for the New Greenwich,
timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) describes that "time can't leave
like that; time has to stay in its place." Niccol’s vision shows that the
entire sociological structure is based on income inequality and social
crusaders.